


Watch My Back

by All_My_Characters_Are_Dead



Series: Birthday AUs [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Kindaichi is precious and must be protected, Kunimi thinks so too, implied iwaoi because I can't write anything without iwaoi, spy AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-06-09 08:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6899461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead/pseuds/All_My_Characters_Are_Dead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kindaichi has one goal: impress Iwaizumi so that he'll let Kindaichi take the final test to become a field agent.<br/>Kindaichi has one problem: his best friend isn't as eager for this opportunity as he is, and Kunimi is in a position to make sure he gets his way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watch My Back

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I'm trying to do mini AU oneshots for everyone's birthday, including characters who are usually on the sidelines. I have one for Iwaizumi's birthday waiting, and I'm working on one for Suga's. If there's a character's birthday coming up and you have an AU prompt for me that you'd like me to consider, let me know!!

 "Kunimi, where is he?" Kindaichi hissed, peering around a corner to scan the hallway. Iwaizumi was out there somewhere, watching him, waiting to make a move. No one answered his question. Kindaichi lifted his hand and tapped at his earpiece. "Kunimi?"

 _"What?"_ a sleepy voice grumbled over the earpiece. Kindaichi groaned; his handler, Kunimi, was notorious for sleeping on the job. While Kunimi was his best friend, and normally Kindaichi wouldn't care too much, this was important; if he didn't do well today, Iwaizumi might not think he was ready for the final test, might decide that mentoring Kindaichi had been a mistake.

"Please tell me you weren't sleeping instead of monitoring the situation again," Kindaichi muttered.

 _"If I'm not telling you that, can I go back to sleep? Or did you actually need something?"_ Kunimi sighed. 

"Where is he?" Kindaichi demanded, glancing around the corner again. The hallway was empty, so he stepped away from the cover of the corner. 

 _"He's probably about to snipe you through those giant windows he now has a clear shot through,_ _"_ Kunimi yawned, an instant before an impact with his shoulder, placed to cause maximum discomfort while avoiding the protection of his vest, sent him staggering backwards. 

"Damn it, Kunimi," Kindaichi hissed as he stared down at the bright red staining his sleeve. "You couldn't have warned me sooner?"

 _"If you always rely on me to keep you from making stupid mistakes, you'll never learn,"_ Kunimi informed him.  _"Since you're dead, can I go back to sleep now?"_

"You are the most unhelpful handler ever," Kindaichi grumbled. "Aren't you supposed to be helping me bring out my potential or some shit?"

 _"Can't bring out what isn't there,"_ Kunimi's voice informed him. Kindaichi grimaced and reached up to rub at the bright red covering his shoulder. The impact point stung fiercely, but even worse was the blow to his pride. This could be his last chance to impress his mentor and be recommended for the final test to be cleared for field work, and he'd been disabled within ten minutes of starting. 

 _"Now, now, Kuni-chan,"_ a new voice tutted over the earpiece.  _"Kin-chan has plenty of potential, or my Iwa-chan wouldn't have agreed to mentor him. Maybe if you had my godlike computer skills, you would have been able to hack into the cameras in that area faster and warned Kin-chan about the possibility of being sniped sooner."_

 _"Maybe if he'd been paying attention to his surroundings, he wouldn't have been relying on me to warn him of danger,"_ Kunimi retorted.  _"Don't you have your own agent to torment, Oikawa-senpai?"_

 _"Hey, asshole,"_ a third voice growled.  _"Quit patching our frequency into other people's."_  

 _"Iwa-chan is no fun,"_ came the dramatic sigh. 

 _"They're gone,"_ Kunimi's voice announced a moment later. Kindaichi relaxed.  _"You know, maybe this should tell you something. Maybe you're not cut out for field work. Maybe you should stay in headquarters with me instead,"_ Kunimi suggested. Kindaichi grimaced. He didn't want to be a desk agent, analyzing paperwork or doing security work around headquarters. He wanted to be a field agent, and he wanted to make Iwaizumi - one of the best agents, and one who hardly ever took on a mentoring role, because he was constantly in the field - proud of him.  _"Seriously, just come back to headquarters. It'll be like back during our initial training."_ Kindaichi reached up to his earpiece and pulled it off. He set his weapon - a modified paintball gun, just like the one Iwaizumi had sniped him with - on the ground, then put his earpiece on top of it. He glanced at the red paint staining his shoulder, then sighed and tugged his vest off, and the jacket he wore beneath it. Luckily, the paint hadn't soaked through to his shirt, so he dropped the jacket and vest beside the weapon and earpiece. 

Kindaichi strode down the hallway, away from the pickup point, where his mentor would be waiting. Failure left a bitter taste in his mouth, and Kindaichi didn't want to face the ride back to headquarters with his mentor yet. So he made his way to the rooftop instead and sat with his back to the door, as though daring anyone to sneak up on him. In reality, he just didn't want to have to look at whoever eventually had to come find him. He knew he was being petty, going off to sulk like this, but he didn't care. 

The door opened much sooner than Kindaichi expected, and he recognized Iwaizumi's footsteps as his mentor approached and then sat beside him. Kindaichi stared down at the concrete beneath him, until Iwaizumi's hand entered his field of vision, holding out Kindaichi's earpiece. Kindaichi hesitated. 

"You can't leave your handler like that," Iwaizumi said quietly. "Even if you're frustrated and feel like you've failed." Kindaichi flinched and took the earpiece. 

"He was right. I screwed up," Kindaichi sighed, turning the earpiece over in his hands. 

"You did fine," Iwaizumi replied. "You just let your knowledge of how I usually work cloud your observations. You know I prefer close range combat, so you were expecting me to follow you into the building, maybe get ahead of you and set a trap." Kindaichi nodded, his fingers clenching around the earpiece. "It's not that you weren't thinking, it's that you were thinking too specifically. You forgot to consider other options. And that's not a bad thing all the time, because it's your handler's job to maintain a broad perspective and not let you walk into an exposed hallway like that."

"I still failed," Kindaichi pointed out. 

"Put your earpiece in," Iwaizumi said instead of acknowledging that. Kindaichi frowned and glanced at his mentor. "Do it." Kindaichi reluctantly slipped the earpiece into place.

"Kunimi?" he asked tentatively. 

 _"Yuutarou,"_ Kunimi breathed, relief tinting his voice. Kindaichi blinked.  _"I'm so sorry, please don't hate me."_ Kindaichi frowned, lifted his hand to his earpiece. What was Kunimi apologizing for?  _"They're going to let you retake your assessment, so please don't hate me."_ Kindaichi shook his head. 

"What are you talking about? Retake it? Why would I hate you?" Kindaichi asked. There was a pause. 

 _"Iwaizumi didn't tell you,"_ Kunimi realized. Kindaichi's frown deepened. 

"Tell me what?" he asked, glancing sideways at Iwaizumi, who just shook his head and pointed to the earpiece, indicating that this was something Kindaichi and Kunimi needed to discuss themselves. Kunimi was silent. "Kunimi, what are you talking about?" No response. Kindaichi sighed. "Akira." There was a quiet noise that Kindaichi couldn't quite identify. 

_"I tracked Iwaizumi with the cameras in the area and knew he was setting up to snipe you. I let you walk into the perfect spot for him to hit you."_

Kindaichi was frozen. 

"You what?" he whispered. 

 _"I set you up,"_ Kunimi admitted.  _"Yuutarou, please, I just want you to be safe, and I thought that if you didn't get to the point of being allowed to take the final test this time, you'd give up and come back to headquarters where it's safe."_ Kindaichi was silent as he reached up to remove the earpiece.  _"Yuutarou-"_ Kindaichi took off the earpiece, cutting off Kunimi's voice. 

"He's trying to protect you," Iwaizumi said, studying Kindaichi's expression. 

"I don't want to be protected, I want to be a field agent," Kindaichi snapped, clenching his fist around the earpiece. Iwaizumi tilted his head and raised one eyebrow. Kindaichi sighed. "Headquarters could be attacked. Or one of those crazy guys in research and development could blow it up. Staying hidden away isn't going to keep me safe. Having a handler who actually helps me would do more to keep me safe." Kindaichi paused, then added quietly, "I can be a good agent."

"You are a good agent," Iwaizumi replied. "I've arranged for you to try this assessment again, with a different handler." Kindaichi tensed. "You get along with Yahaba pretty well, don't you? Since Kyoutani's on medical leave right now, Yahaba's free, and he agreed to help you out." Kindaichi hesitated; he did get along with Yahaba, but... He glanced down at his earpiece. Kunimi was just trying to protect Kindaichi. The two had been friends since before they started working at headquarters, and Kindaichi had only had the courage to actually pursue his dream of becoming a field agent after Kunimi finished training as a handler, so Kunimi would be able to watch his back. Kindaichi lifted the earpiece back into place. Iwaizumi watched him silently.

"Akira," Kindaichi said. 

 _"I'm sorry,"_ Kunimi responded immediately. 

"We're going to have a long talk when I get back," Kindaichi told him. "But for now, Iwaizumi says we can try again." 

_"I thought Yahaba was going to-"_

"I didn't think you'd like that," Kindaichi interrupted. 

 _"Aren't you angry?"_ Kunimi's voice was softer and more hesitant than usual.

"Of course I am. But if we can't work well together when I'm angry, then..." Kindaichi trailed off. It was true; he was angry - furious, even - but Kunimi had been his best friend for years, and he didn't want to lose him because of one issue, even if it was something big like this. He'd have to discuss this with Kunimi later, of course, but for now... For now, they needed to work together. 

 _"All right."_ Kindaichi turned to Iwaizumi. 

"I'm guessing you won't be wanting Yahaba's help?" Iwaizumi said, expression serious and closed off.

"Kunimi and I are going to work together," Kindaichi answered. "Properly, this time." 

"Are you sure? Kunimi made a pretty big mistake," Iwaizumi pointed out. 

"I should have been paying more attention," Kindaichi replied. "We both made mistakes, and we need to improve our teamwork and communication. We _really_ need to talk everything out when I get back to headquarters, but the mission comes first. Besides, I'm not going to give up on Kunimi just because he was trying too hard to protect me." Iwaizumi chuckled. 

"Good answer," Iwaizumi said approvingly. Kindaichi blinked. "This assessment wasn't about your skills as an agent, Kindaichi," Iwaizumi explained. "I already know exactly how skilled you are. What I didn't know was how you'd react to defeat at such a crucial point, with all of your hopes of taking the final test on the line. And when I found out what Kunimi did, I knew this was a chance to test how you'd act if a friend let you down." Kindaichi stared at him incredulously. 

"So..."

"You passed," Iwaizumi told him, lips curving upward in amusement. Kindaichi's shoulders slumped in relief. "Come on. Let's go back to headquarters. I'm sure you and Kunimi have a lot to talk about, and I need to schedule your final test." Kindaichi nodded and followed Iwaizumi down into the building, toward the cars waiting to take them back to headquarters. 

* * *

Kindaichi opened the door to Kunimi's office without knocking and stepped inside, closing the door behind him and leaning against it before he turned to the handler sitting in front of a wall of computer monitors. Kunimi hadn't looked up when Kindaichi came in, apparently completely focused on his task. 

"I'm helping Yahaba and Kenma set up a better firewall so Oikawa won't be able to splice people's comm channels together," Kunimi said softly. Kindaichi nodded, even though he knew full well that Kunimi couldn't see the motion with his back to the door and his attention on the screens in front of him. 

"How can you focus with that many windows open?" Kindaichi asked, eyeing the flood of different windows that crowded Kunimi's monitors, full of computer scripts that looked like gibberish to Kindaichi. Kunimi's fingers flew over the keyboard. 

"Half of them are Kenma's," Kunimi murmured, typing commands into the computer faster than Kindaichi could even wonder what he was actually telling the machine to do. "And half of the rest are Yahaba's. Oikawa, of course, is losing spectacularly at Worm, as shown by the far right monitor," he added, tilting his head to indicate the window he meant. Kindaichi glanced over and saw that, yes, whoever was playing that game seemed to be restarting every few seconds. He shook his head and shifted so he was leaning more comfortably against the door. 

"We need to talk," Kindaichi said. Kunimi's fingers paused, hovering over the keys. 

"Yes, we do," he agreed. A few more taps to his keyboard, and Kunimi reached up to adjust his headset. "Yahaba, Kenma, I'm handing over my windows to you for a while, okay?" After a pause, presumably to receive his fellow handlers' agreement, he removed the headset and placed it beside his keyboard, then turned his chair to face Kindaichi. 

"How long have you been sabotaging my exercises?" Kindaichi asked quietly. Kunimi looked down, his bangs falling forward to hide his expression. Kindaichi grimaced. "Damn it, Akira, how am I supposed to figure this out and decide if I can trust you again if you won't even talk to me?" Kunimi flinched at his name, then again at the word 'trust'. 

"I'm sorry," Kunimi murmured. "I was just..."

"Trying to protect me, I got that," Kindaichi sighed. "But why would you think the best way to protect me is to make me feel like I'm awful at the one thing I've wanted to do for years? Why couldn't you protect me by helping me, making sure I become a good enough agent that you don't have to worry so much?"

"Because I'm always going to worry," Kunimi answered quietly. "I'm always going to worry, and I hate being trapped behind these monitors and unable to help you. I never understood why Oikawa can't sleep and has to be dragged out of his office to eat while Iwaizumi's on a mission, but ever since you started training, I understand completely." 

"The reason Iwaizumi comes back alive from every mission is because his handler supports him and watches his back. Iwaizumi can trust Oikawa with everything, and while the weight of that trust might be crushing sometimes, Oikawa lives up to it. I'm going to be taking the test to become a full field agent next week, Akira. I need a handler. Can I trust you to do the job?" Kindaichi asked, studying his best friend. Kunimi met his gaze.

"If you choose to trust me again, I will bring you back safe every time, Yuutarou," Kunimi promised softly. Kindaichi's shoulders relaxed a bit. 

"Then I'll let Iwaizumi know I want you to stay on as my handler," Kindaichi said. Kunimi slumped in relief, until Kindaichi added, "By the way, that game of Worm has been running the same three patterns over and over. I think Oikawa pulled a fast one on you." Kunimi tensed and whirled, staring in utter horror at the little window, where the growing blue line closed in on a dot, only to hit its own tail and blink out of existence. 

"Well, shit," Kunimi muttered. Kindaichi laughed. 

"I'll let you get back to your handler versus handler stuff," Kindaichi said. He opened the door, then paused and glanced back. "Dinner's in an hour. Want me to bring you something?" Kunimi nodded, narrowing his eyes as he glared at the offending game of Worm still looping on his screen. "Want me to see if I can get Iwaizumi to distract Oikawa for a bit so you three can work without having to worry about him?" Kunimi's chair spun around faster than Kindaichi had ever seen it. He laughed as Kunimi nodded so vigorously that Kindaichi worried he might hurt himself. "All right, I'll see what I can do." Kindaichi turned to leave, but paused again, this time because he heard Kunimi's voice. 

"Yuutarou? Thank you," Kunimi called hesitantly. "For trying, offering to bring me food, for trusting me again, for...everything." Kindaichi smiled slightly. 

"Just don't fall asleep when you're supposed to be watching my back," Kindaichi replied. Kunimi grumbled and turned back to his monitors again. Kindaichishook his head and closed the door. "Now, where would Iwaizumi be..." he muttered, starting down the hallway. 


End file.
